Process of making producer-gas.



PATENTED JUNE 16, 1903,

F. W. MATTHIESSEN. PROCESS OF MAKING PRODUCER GAS.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 29, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

vno MODEL.

UNITED ST aT nsi Patented June 16, 1903.

FREDERICK WV. MATTI-IIESSEN,- OF- LASALLE, ILLINOIS.

PR( )CES S.OF MAKING PRODUCER-GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent'No. 730,941, dated June 16,1903.

' u Application filed October 29, 1902. Serial No. 129,215. (Nospecimens.)

To. all whom, it maycmwern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. MAT- THIESSEN, of Lasalle, in the Stateof Illinois, have invented a certain new and usefullm- 5 provement inProcesses for the Manufacture of Producer-Gas, of which the following isa" specification. V

My invention relates to the burning of coal or its equivalent for theproduction of pro- 10 ducer-gas and other purposes without the es-- capeof smoke.

A prior process for the smokeless combustion of fuel consists in firstigniting a charge of fuel in a chamber of considerable length :5 andpermitting it to burn by natural draft chamber returning the gaseousproducts with additional air through other perforations in the chambertransversely through aportion of the fuel which has previously beentreated and partly consumed and repeating this operation of returningthe products of combustion with air, 850., until the fuel is convertedtate carbon. 7

My invention is distinguished from the prior one in first distilling thehydrocarbons from the fuel by heat reflected upon it withoutair-currents being passed through it and in not directly mixing thegaseous products of combustion with additional air outside of thefuel-chamber. I attain the desired re sults by subjecting coal or itsequivalen t under confinement in a suitable chamber to sufficient heatreflected upon it without'aircurrents passing through it to distil the11ydrocarbons and to oxidize both components thereof in the chamberabove the coal and thereafter pass th'e coke formed in the distillingprocess to the lower part of the chamher and burn the same there withoxygen which may be in excess of the gases produced in the-upper part ofthe chamber and with oxygen in fresh air specially introduced in or overthe chamber.

into combustible gas which does not precipi bustion, the admission ofair in the first step to be so regulated that no solid carbon particles,smoke, or soot results from the burning of the hydrocarbons. No smoke orsoot can form in the second step,.since carbon without combination isnot volatile. e The process consists in separating by distillation in agas-producer chamber the volatile parts of a fuel from the non-volatileparts and in oxidizing the volatile parts as a first step and thenon-volatile parts as a second step in theoperation.

The process may be carried out by means .of an apparatus constructedasillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is avertical central section of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a top or plan viewof the same with portions of the top broken away to show the interiorconstruction and having the exit-flue removed. Fig. 3 is a detailshowing a detached part in perspective.

In the drawings, A is a chamber mounted on a bottom plate A, havingbrackets a.

B is atfiange or extended bottom of an enlarged part of the chamber, andO the chamber-cover, which forms a gas-tight connection The cover isprovided with openings at, through which twyers from an air-pipe a areintroduced for forcing air into the enlarged upper part of the chamber.

D is a flue for taking off the gas, and it communicates with the lowerpart of the chamber.

The twyers are provided with valves a for regulating the admission ofair, so that all the elements of the hydrocarbons can be oxidized in theenlarged upper part of the chamber before the mixing with the fuel-gasesfrom the coke burning in the central lower part of the chamber. i

-E is an upright shaft which is stepped at the bottom in a bearing ofthe frame E and at the top in a bearing The bottom plate A, mounted onthe shaft, supports the'chamher so as to permit it torrevolve. 'The partofthe flue D within the chamber is also connected with the shaft byradial flanges d. The cover is stationary and supported independently ofthe chamber by a frame F, resting on uprights F.

Gis a stationary casing having perforations g for the admission of airto the bottom of the chamber. The connections at c are made gas tight bymeans of a water seal of ordinary form. The cover is provided with anoblong opening over the enlarged part of the chamber, and. through thisopening the spout H of the feed-hopper is inserted. The inner end of thespout is shortened at one side, as shown at h, andinserted until thelonger side 72/ will just clear the flange l3. Stoking-openings c arealso provided, but ordinarily kept closed. A minute opening into thechamber at c or other suitable place is provided through which asufficient jet of gas to support a pilotfiame vwill issue.

H is a plowshare-like scraper mounted on the spout and adapted to throwthe coal from the flange B toward the center of the chamber.

I is a cone on the shaft and causes the ashes and clinkers to bedeflected out toward the margin of the plate A.

J is a scraper mounted on the casing and extended obliquely across themargin of the base-plate A outside the base of the cone, so as to sweepthe ashes and clinkers out through an extension G of the easing into anash-receptacle G forming awater seal with the lower edge g of theextension.

K is an annular rack connected with the bottom of the base-plate andadapted to engage a pinion 7c of a power-shaft for rotating the chamber.

In the operation of the process when using the described apparatus coalis fed continuously to the upper part of the chamber and retained thereuntil hydrocarbons are distilled by the heat produced by the burning ofthe hydrocarbons themselves in the upper part of the chamber. Sufficientair is admitted over the coal to burn the hydrocarbons to producer-gas.A surplus of oxygen over and above the amount required for that purposemay be introduced. By the rotation the coke is passed to the centrallower part of the chamber and burned there with the surplus atmosphericoxygen introduced to the hydrocarbons and with sufficient further airadmitted under the coke to burn the same fully. In this instancedistillation and oxidation of the hydrocarbons in the upper part of thechamber are comprised in the first step of the process, and the burningof the coke in the central lower part of the chamber with the surplus ofoxygen from the gases resulting from the first step and with the furtheroxygen in the fresh air introduced under the coke constitutes the secondstep. The test as to the sufficiency of air admitted over the coal maybe determined by the small pilotfiame on the chamberor by the absence ofsmoke at the exhaust.

What is claimed is- 1. The process of making producer -gas, whichconsists in separating, by distillation in the upper part of a chamber,the volatile parts of a fuel from the non-volatile parts by heatreflected upon the fuel and oxidizing the volatile parts in the upperpart of the chamber as a first step in the operation, and passing thenon-volatile parts of the fuel to the lower part of the chamber andoxidizing them as a second step in the operation as specified.

2. The process of making producer-gas, which consists first insubjecting coal under confinement in onepart of a chamber to sufficientreflected heat absent from air-currents passing through the fuel todistil the hydrocarbons of the coal and oxidize both components of thehydrocarbons to producer-gas by air admitted over the coal, and secondin oxidizing to producer-gas in the lower part of the chamber the cokeproduced in the first step of the operation by currents of fresh airintroduced to the coke as specified.

FREDERICK W. MATTHIESSEN.

Witnesses:

ANNIE M. ADAMS, ARTHUR C. DAYTON.

